Vermont’s new minimum wage rate represents a 20 percent increase over the current rate of $8.73 per hour.

Vermont Minimum Wage to Increase in Stages to $10.50 by 2018

The minimum wage in Vermont will increase in stages beginning January 1, 2016 until it reaches the $10.50 level beginning January 1, 2018. Thereafter Vermont’s minimum wage will increase annually by five percent or the percentage increase of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Vermont General Assembly’s Back-and-Forth on the Minimum Wage Rate

The House previously had passed a version that raised the minimum wage to a lower rate of $10.10. The Vermont Senate returned that version with mark-up that introduced the $10.50 level, which was then passed by the House.

Both houses of Vermont’s General Assembly reached agreement on the rate that was lower than the minimum wage levels originally introduced in their earliest Bills: $12.00 in the Senate and $12.50 in the House.